Monday, 18 June 2018

Vogue 8805 double knit dress

This dress jumped the queue when I found a fabric that forced me (seriously, I had no option to resist) to break my no-new-fabric intentions.

The fabric is a curious double sided poly knit from our new local, and utterly fabulous, fabric shop: Fabric Deluxe.

These photos don't do the fabric justice and you must know how incredibly annoyed I was to discover that my thermal top had curled up at the bottom and created that weird line across my lower abdomen. My ever patient husband takes the pictures but has absolutely no eye for that kind of thing bless him.

I had only gone in to Fabric Deluxe for some thread and was doing really well at avoiding all the lovely fabrics until this bolt of knit caught my eye. I have always had a weak spot for double faced knits, ever since P had a little Euro ready-to-wear hoodie that was two different striped knits bonded together.

The blue and orange were such a fun combination and I loved the subtle pinstripe and the curious embossed chevron/swoosh things. Given it's a double faced knit it has quite a thick, almost spongey texture and I figured it would make a nice long sleeved T for my son.

Of course once I'd decided to have some, and then found out it was half price, I suddenly found myself buying a bit more knowing I could make this dress pattern with it. Then they showed me the other colourways and I picked up a bit more for a dress for A too. The bolts turned out to be from a previous fabric store closing down and possibly is a fairly "vintage" fabric. It's curious and I like it.

The dress pattern is a variation on Vogue 8805. That's intended for a woven fabric and has options for colour blocking the dress. I went with the straight View B, sewing the elbow length sleeves and using the one fabric throughout. The topstitching still makes those seam lines stand out.

Not long after I'd bought the pattern I lent it to a friend and she sewed it up. She had also used a knit fabric and I tried on her version, which was a size down from what I would normally chose, and decided that was plenty big enough. The only thing I needed was two inches extra length through the waist. Even though it's a fairly straight dress, the slightly wider hip part was sitting oddly high and sticky-outy on me in my friend's version.

The pattern usually has a centre back seam with a slit opening at the neck with a button and loop closure. I figured that with a knit I could get away with cutting the back top section on the fold. Then I finished the neckline as instructed with a bias facing. Now of course that took nearly all the stretch out of the neck opening anyway. It just works for me, but if you have a head that often doesn't fit though headholes then don't do this, do as the pattern instructs!

We've had a definite turn towards winter in the weather over the last few days, and I was wearing this dress today with a thermal top (better tucked in!), tights and boots. It was lovely and warm and every bit the secret pyjamas we all love in a winter dress.

The elbow length sleeves have a fun straight width that looks almost a little flared. The dress comes in different cup sizes and while I didn't know which one I'd tried on, I plumped for the A/B version which fitted my lack of boobage. I was very happy to find the bust darts were just the right height and length.

I would very much consider making a version of this dress in colour blocked
crepe. Maybe with a sway back adjustment or even centre back seam to
give it a bit more shape. I think it could easily turn out to be one of those fancy looking but super easy to wear dresses. My funny poly knit version certainly doesn't look fancy, but boy is it nice to wear.

Speaking of boys, I'll show you the kid's long sleeved T in another blog post because, of course, he nailed the modelling and he makes me look completely hopeless by comparison.

I've just sewn with another version of this fabric, and then also with a double sided merino knit. i seem to be seeing/sewing double all the time! I'll ping you a message next time I spot any - always happy to purchase and post.